Every Christmas, M R James, the master of the English ghost story, would write and perform spooky tales to entertain friends in his rooms at King's College, Cambridge.

A century later, they still have spinetingling power, and a seasonal shiver comes to Bristol this weekend with an award-winning retelling of two of the best of them.

They will be performed at the Tobacco Factory in Southville on Sunday by actor and art historian Robert Lloyd Parry (pictured above as M R James) who gives theatregoers the opportunity to experience these eerie stories in the manner in which they were originally enjoyed – as ghostly confections, told to a rapt audience.

M R James (1862-1936) dedicated his stories to "those who have at various times listened to them", and Robert evokes the tone and atmosphere of the writer's original performances.

Robert said: "Reticence and suggestion are very important weapons in James's storytelling armoury, so staging, lighting and delivery are all very straightforward – and, one hopes, all the more chilling for that."

The two stories performed by Robert are Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad, a tale of nocturnal horror on the Suffolk coast considered by many to be the author's masterpiece, and The Ash Tree, a story of witchcraft and vengeance down the generations.

Robert has taken his one-man show around the UK, USA and Ireland, often performing in venues closely associated with M R James, and this year, it won the Dracula Society's Hamilton Deane Award.

Sunday's show is sold out. Call the box office on 0117 902 0344 for any returns.